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Recount Is On For Wisconsin Supreme Court Race

A group of protesters gathered in front of the Wisconsin Capitol yesterday, demanding a recount in the state’s Supreme Court race. Little did they know, within a few hours they would get their wish.

Incumbent Justice David Prosser currently holds about a 7,300-vote lead over liberal challenger Joanne Kloppenburg, but the challenger has now asked for a hand recount at the expense of municipalities and counties. Prosser has said a recount would be frivolous, but the election is within the margin to allow Kloppenburg’s request to move forward. The deadline for Kloppenburg to make such a request was yesterday.

Earlier in the week the government accountability board found some minor irregularities in the controversial count Waukesha County, but officials said totals did appear to match numbers from the county’s municipalities, meaning, that in all liklihood, Prosser will emerge from a recount with victory as well.

After Kloppenburg announced her intentions to demand a recount, the state’s board released a statement saying that officials were prepared to move forward with a statewide recount, and that they have been preparing for a recount since Election Night. The Government Accountability Board has have assembled an internal team to direct the recount, and have arranged for legal representation by the Wisconsin Department of Justice. The hand recount will begin the week of April 25, which is next Monday.

Prosser’s campaign released a statement of their own saying that they now see “nothing will stop (Kloppenburg) from going ahead and wasting taxpayers hard-earned money to discover what election officials did on April 5th – that Justice David Prosser was reelected.

The statment from Prosser’s camp also said that “the largetst largest number of votes ever turned in state history on a recount is 489″, and also noted that Kloppenburg trails by a margin that “now stands at fifteen times that.”

Nevertheless, a recount is on the way. Remember, all of this is tied to Governor Scott Walker’s Budget Repair Bill. Kloppenburg’s union supporters believe that if she were elected, Walker’s bill could be upended in the state Supreme Court.